Bapon (SHM) Fakhruddin, PhD

Water and Climate Leader| Strategic Investment Partnerships and Co-Investments| Professor| EW4ALL| Board Member| Chair- CODATA TG| Award Winner (SDG 2021, EWS 2025)

Microplastics: The Invisible Threat Demanding Urgent Global Action

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Bapon Fakhruddin

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Microplastics have flooded the farthest reaches of our planet! This is no longer a problem we can brush away or bury out of sight. Tiny toxin-absorbing plastics have already infiltrated human bloodstreams and organs. Left unchecked, the impacts on health could be devastating from infertility to cancer to brain disorders.

Our oceans churn with over 150 million tonnes of plastic waste. But the crisis extends beyond befouled beaches. Microplastics slough off synthetic fabrics in laundry loads, leach from fertilizers and cosmetics down drains. Agricultural runoff chokes waterways. Modern life itself sheds plastic particles too small for the eye to see yet too dangerous to ignore.

We stand at a crossroads of conscience and action. Will we continue business as usual while our children inherit a broken planet? Or will we unite in shared sacrifice and vision to turn off the plastic tap?

Solutions exist but require political courage. We must radically reimagine how goods are packaged, shipped and sold. Tax incentives can catalyze industry to develop viable alternatives. Strict regulations on microplastics from production to disposal can staunch the flow.

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About the author

Dr Fakhruddin is an expert climate change risk assessor with 18 years’ global experience in working on disaster risk and climate resilience projects. This experience is a major advantage in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategy development. His key areas of expertise are climate and multi-hazard risk assessment, disaster preparedness, early warning and emergency response and coastal community resilience. He has designed climate change and disaster response projects more than 25 countries in Asia and the Pacific. During his career, Dr Fakhruddin helped to design major international multi-hazard early warning systems for floods, cyclone and tsunami to save life and property damage. His most high profile work has been developing multi-hazard warning systems including a tsunami warning system for Indian Ocean countries following the deadliest one in history – the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. Dr Fakhruddin is currently work as a mentor and supervisor for postgraduate study in disaster risk management in University of Auckland (UoA). He is a Science Committee Member of IRDR of ICSU/UNISDR, Co-Chair for the Disaster Loss DATA and Risk Interpretation and Applications (RIA) Working Group of IRDR of ICSU/UNISDR. He is also Co-Chair CODATA task group Linked Open Data for Global Disaster Risk Research (LODGD) and PSG member of the Coastal Inundation Forecasting Demonstration Project (CIFDP) and Open Panel of Commission for Hydrology Experts (OPACHE) of WMO. Recently Dr Fakhruddin appointed by the Government of New Zealand to develop national climate change risk assessment framework